User blog:Golurk 88/War Robots: Into the Future
Introduction Thanks to Claudius 14, we will now be looking at the game itself, Pixonic and what could possibly happen next. So far we’ve covered many topics, from Raijins to Shocktrains and Spawn Raiding. Since War Robots came out in late 2014, the meta has switched from Rhinos to Lancelots and then to Dash Bots...with many new game modes and weapons being released. In this blog, we will be covering most features of the game, how it has evolved and what makes the wiki still play it despite the decisions of Pixonic having more than their fair share of uncommon sense. In short, this blog will try to tell the story of WR. NOTE: Due to the length of this blog, please use the contents table above if you want to only read particular sections. Meta (Robots and Weapons) The first robots to dominate the battlefields were Destriers. I’m serious by the way. The legendary Destrier was the robot that all pilots started with, got their first kill in and capped their first beacons. Many pilots overlook the fact that when the game was first released, the Destrier was the only robot able to be considered ‘meta’ due to the sheer numbers of them, as higher leagues were almost uninhabited in the early days of the game. For that, the Destrier deserves a place in the history of WR metas. Moving on from nostalgic moments, the high-league meta was soon occupied by Rhinos, once the game had matured. Armed with devastating PDB, Hellfire or DB setups, Rhinos were invincible, possessing good firepower, a useful ability, a durable physical shield and high health. After a while though, it was time for a change. In Update 1.8 the Rhino’s nemesis was released: The Lancelot. Boasting greater firepower with in-built shields that didn’t come at the expense of weaponry, the Rhino was soon put into the shade by increasing numbers of Lancelots equipped with a Thunder and 2 Orkans. It is also important not to forget mid/long range meta robots as well. The TT (Trident) Fury became commonplace as a way of countering Thunder/Orkan Lancelots at range. The rockets would bypass the physical shields of the Lancelot, dealing devastating damage. After months of countless defeats at the hands of TT Furies, Lancelots began to be equipped with an Ancile and twin Tarans. This is a prime example of an in-game arms race, with setups constantly changing to counter others. The Ancile protected the Lancelot from rocket, missile and kinetic fire, whilst the Tarans were better suited for brawling and their extra range allowed Lancelots to have higher chances of engaging TT Furies. With their Tridents being much less effective against Ancilots, as they were now called, Furies were equipped with 3 Zeuses instead. Although their energy bolts bypasses the Ancile, they were blocked by the Lancelot’s physical shields. This was made up for by the Zeus’ high damage. Eventually, the Zeuses were replaced by Dragoons, which dealt more damage. Although the meta had already switched several times before Updates 3.1 and 3.2, the meta changes remained relatively calm and relaxed. That all changed in Update 3.1 and 3.2. Pixonic unleashed the now-infamous Dash bots (Kumiho, Haechi and Bulgasari), along with overpowered weapons and other robots (e.g Ember and Inquisitor). Gone were the days of slow but durable heavy robots...they had been replaced by new ones that emphasised firepower and mobility. Summary: First Meta: Rhinos equipped with Tarans, Magnums, Orkans and Piñatas. Second Meta: Lancelots with a Thunder and Orkans Trident Fury Third Meta: Lancelots with an Ancile and Tarans Zeus Fury Fourth/Current Meta: Kumiho, Haechi, Bulgasari, Inquisitors and Spectres with Orkans, Tarans, Embers, Scourges and Shocktrains Dragoon Fury Next Meta (prediction): Possibly Blitz, Rayker and Invader with Gusts, Magnums, Piñatas and Avengers. Note: Although each league has its own mini meta, the robots that high league players use are generally considered to be the overall meta. What about the Shutze? As many of you asked, the little starting robot from GER has been absent for quite a while from the store. However, if you bought the Shutze before its disappearance, then you can still use it. According to Pixonic’s official PR Department, Shutze is having some technical issues which they have to fix. On a slightly darker note however, Shutze may be gone forever according to a Pixonic insider due to it being obsolete (but aren’t all starting bots like that anyway?) Currency The first currency that could be used to buy (then) overpowered robots and weapons was Gold. With it, players could buy hangar slots as well as unique robots and weapons that were superior to the robots that costed ‘free’ currency: Silver. Once a player reached level 20, he/she unlocked the Workshop. The latter produced Workshop points using silver which could be used to purchase next-generation robots (e.g Carnage and Fujin). After years of remaining unchanged, the Workshop was eventually replaced with Workshop 2.0 in Update 4.2. The biggest change of all in Update 3.1 and 3.2 was arguably nothing to do with meta. Instead, Pixonic released a new currency: Components. Not only were they far more expensive in terms of real-life money, they weren’t interchangeable. Whilst you could get a Lancelot and a Fury for 10k Gold, you had to have 10k components unique to the robot or weapon in order to obtain it. This caused an even deeper divide between P2W players and others. For example, whilst you could get 14k gold for $100 and therefore obtain 3 Lancelots, the same amount of real-life money would openly get you 7000 Haechi components...70% of a robot against 3 robots for the same cost. Finally, after months of complaints, Pixonic released a new workshop: Workshop 2.0. This allowed players to access component robots and weapons for (a high amount of) silver. This was undoubtedly one of the most popular decisions they ever made, as it balanced the leagues out. Game Modes The original game, Walking War Robots (before its name was changed) had only a single game mode: Domination. Players could only spawn at their home base and beacons could be captured, overturned then re-captured for the other team. This meant that defending far away beacons was often near-impossible. Teams could win by either annihilating (meching out) the other team or by depleting the opposing team’s beacon bar to zero. It would be many months before Pixonic released a new one. The second game mode was Beacon Rush. Undoubtedly the most popular game mode by far, players could spawn on captured (friendly) beacons, allowing for much fiercer and faster battles and made defending beacons easier. It also allowed slow brawlers that were most effective when at point-blank to have a higher impact on the outcome of the battle(s). Battles were won in the same way as in Domination. After Beacon Rush came Team Death Match. Similar to Domination in terms of there being only 3 spawn points all near one end of the map, although their are no beacons. Intended to be the game mode best suited for teams of close-range brawlers, TDM became notorious for campers equipped with mid/long range sniper, artillery or indirect fire weapons. Several months later, King of The Hill was released. In this game mode, only one beacon was active at a time. Each beacon contained a limited number of capture points that went to the team that captured the beacon over time...the more teammates in the beacon capture area, the faster the points were collected. As per usual, beacons could be overturned. Neutral beacons slowly ran out of points over time. Whichever team filled their beacon bar first or had the most points by the end of the game won. One of the more recent game modes is Free For All. In the words of Pixonic, FFA is essentially TDM without the ‘Team’ part.FFA is for players who cannot rely or don’t wish to rely on their team for silver, keys, Gold or honour points. Whoever is the last player left or whoever has the most kills when time runs out wins the game. Like TDM being plagued by campers, FFA is great for kill stealing. Wiki Some may disagree, but the most important aspect of this blog isn’t the game, but in my opinion is the wiki. It is a place where you can find all the information one needs to be successful in WR and has many different opinions, tactics and fun/off topic threads as well. But as Claudius asked, how does the game still remain great in this community’s eyes? Despite Pixonic often making unreasonable decisions, the ones that they do get right are often extremely helpful to players and so outweigh the bad ones (usually). Since the wiki also has many different players in a variety of leagues with different play styles and strategies, this means that wiki members can almost always find a counter strategy to help them combat enemy robots, no matter how overpowered. The most recent and popular of Pixonic’s good decisions is probably Workshop 2.0. As I’ve said before, it allowed players to access component gear with silver. The fact that real life money didn’t need to be used for components anymore was certainly a relief. Since the wiki is also a fun place to be, the many fun threads that exist can often brighten up players who perhaps have lost their past 10 matches in a row, whether it be to P2W players, noobs or AFK teammates (wow this sounds cheesy). Overview So here we are. Having covered and summarised the very basic story of WR, I hope that you’ve found this useful and perhaps even conjured up some forgotten memories (e.g remember when I ran a Kang Dae/Pinata/Punisher T Golem?). As per usual, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. If you have any tips or new ideas etc, then please comment below! :) Category:use Category:Blog posts